The Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday inaugurated the newly-constructed Seelampur-Shastri Park flyover, which will be a major relief to commuters between Welcome in northeast Delhi and Kashmere Gate and Delhi Uttar Pradesh border.

Congratulating the people of Delhi and the Public Works Department (PWD) officials and engineers for the completion of the project, Kejriwal said that the sanctioned cost of the construction project was Rs 303 crores but it was completed in Rs 250 Cr and Rs 53 Cr were saved in the construction of the high-quality infrastructure.

Kejriwal said, "I want to congratulate the residents of East Delhi for these two flyovers. The people of East Delhi used to face long traffic jams for longer hours but now, the journey from ISBT to UP border can now be completed within a span of 10 minutes without any traffic jams and with a smooth ride.”

"We laid the foundation stone for the new state of the art wing, a 1500-bedded medical block at LNJP Hospital on Friday. In India, governments are known to build hospitals worth ?1500 Cr with each bed costing around Rs. 1-1.5 Cr. For instance, a 1000-bedded hospital would cost around Rs 1500 Cr at a cost of Rs 1.5 Cr per bed. But, we are building a hospital consisting of 1500 beds, cutting edge technology, fully air-conditioned at per bed costing of only Rs 30 lakhs,” he said.

“Now, these Rs 53 crores which are saved through this construction, was earlier used by ministers to fill their own pockets or as bribes. This was the money that came from the innocent citizens of Delhi. But we do not indulge in bribes and take money from officials or engineers, and we are saving the money of the citizens. It is with this money of the people that we save, that we are able to provide free amenities, healthcare, medicines and quality education to our citizens,” he said.

The chief minister further said “I am certain that these flyovers will contribute further towards providing them a hassle-free ride. In the last five years, a lot of progress has taken place in this area, including establishing water and sewer connections, etc,” he said.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain said, “Today two flyovers were inaugurated by the chief minister. The Azad market flyover constructed by municipal Corporations took 10 years and cost Rs 700-800 Cr. Whereas, PWD took 1.5 years, out of which if we exclude six months of Covid and three months of GRAP (Graded Response Action plan), it took only 9-10 months to build that itself is an achievement. The CM has also envisioned a children’s park under the flyover and very soon that vision too will be transformed into reality."

The foundation stone for the newly-constructed flyover was laid on 10th February 2019. Due to the rising levels of pollution and the implementation of GRAP guidelines in 2019, construction projects were banned during the night which brought the flyover construction to a standstill. However, the flyover was 70 per cent completed until October 2019 and despite the implementation of anti-construction guidelines and a six month halt due to the Corona lockdown, the project was completed in a time duration of 19 months.

The Shastri Park flyover consists of six lanes and is constructed at a length of 700 meters, whereas the Seelampur flyover is constructed at a length of 1200 meters and eases the commute of vehicles traveling over the Dharampura crossing towards Shahdara. The construction of the new flyover will bring relief to around 1.5 lakh vehicles which seem to travel through the route daily.